Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Toupruder film.

The Toupruder film is a brief home-movie filmed sometime around 1991-1992, which shows Bill Shatner performing a gentle slap on a bald man's head. For years, some have believed that there is far more to this sequence than originally meets the eye, arguing that it helps to prove that Bill Shatner does indeed wear a toupee. First, here's the full film:

Now, let's break it down:

Frame 102 - Bill Shatner, holding his then wife Marcy's hand to his right, isn't paying enough attention to the helium balloon that the pair are holding together...

Frame 174 - A gust of wind catches the balloon; it is now almost flying out of control...

Frame 199 - Almost instantly, a subconscious associational reaction causes Bill Shatner to temporarily see the shiny bald balloon as a kind of bald scalp. He panics, believing his toupee has come loose....

Frame 212 - To make matters worse, a bald man suddenly appears, raising his hand. Is Bill Shatner having some sort of nightmare...?

Frame 265 - There is surprise as the man moves towards the balloon...

Frame 284 - A relieved Bill Shatner stirs from his surreal toupee nightmare as the man jokingly taps the balloon into the air.

Frame 300 - Bill Shatner fully digests that it is a fellow bald man that tapped the balloon - perhaps he understood Bill Shatner's momentary toup freak-out. An apparent understanding develops between them as Bill Shatner moves his hand towards the man...

Frame 313 - Bill Shatner gently slaps the bald man on the head. Did the man know that this was coming from the king of toupee wearers, William Shatner himself? Was the slap some kind of sign? "I'm one of you!" Was Bill Shatner's hand providing some sort of energy to the man's head to perhaps also become inspired to wear a toupee?

During the late 1990s, the events and controversies suggested by this home movie led director Oliver Stone to make his famous opus, the three-hour long ToupFK, which also broke the above sequence down in great detail. Here's a clip from ToupFK:

So what do you think? Did the bald shiny balloon bring Bill Shatner to some kind of brief toupee-losing trip? Was there a secret sign between the unidentified bald man and Bill Shatner? So many unanswered questions. The mystery continues...

Note: The above materials are sourced from a video posted by YouTube user "Miiriani" and can be seen in full here. Naturally, we are referencing the famous Zapruder film of the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 as well as the 1991 Oliver Stone filmJFKwhich dissected the Zapruder film in a particularly memorable cinematic and stylistically iconic manner. We intend no disrespect to the memory of President Kennedy, the events surrounding his death nor to those who have researched his death and come to a particular conclusion as to how it occurred. If anyone has been upset or offended by the above post for whatever reason, we sincerely apologize.

It might have been a candid camera, but Mr. Shatner tried to foil the plot by damaging the hidden microphone in the balloon and on the camera of the bald man's head. The counterfeit camera, one might add, as it wasn't real and was just a ruse instead.

I think there was a guy in the Book Depository/Repository/whatever, with a massive fishing line, trying to "hook" Bill's toup. Bill was not slapping the bald head, he had spotted the line - which was actually coming from the grassy knoll, not the Book building - the guy in the Book Building being only a patsy - and was attempting to bat it away from his own toup.

"And while in my lifetime I've seen science make extraordinary inroads into solving the most complex questions of life, after all this time I admit that I am thrilled that there are some things that forever will remain a mystery. For example, do I wear a toupee?"

"May I say that this is the most delightful blog I have discovered in many a moon. It's informative without being cruel, and there's genuine affection for Mr. Shatner. Well done." - A reader's kind comment.

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